Improving the environmental performance of bedding products by using life cycle assessment at the design stage

Improvement of the environmental performance of processes and products is a common objective in industry, and has been receiving increased attention in recent years. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the potential environmental impact of two bedding products, a polyurethane foam mattress (PFM) and a pocket spring mattress (PSM). These two types are the most common mattresses used in Europe. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) shows that the PFM has a higher environmental impact than the PSM. For both products the main cause of environmental impact is the manufacturing process, respectively the polyurethane foam block moulding process for the PFM, and the pocket spring nucleus process for the PSM. A scenario analysis shows the possibility of reducing the environmental impact of the products’ life cycle using an alternative End-of-Life scenario, resorting to incineration rather than landfill. Two strategies were also studied in order to reduce the environmental impact of the PFM: (1) reutilization of foam that was sent to the waste system management, and (2) a 20% weight reduction of the polyurethane foam. The second strategy has proven to be the most effective.

A creative solution for rapid and inexpensive model-making in product design processes

Innovative Developments in Virtual and Physical Prototyping

Stress affects theta activity in limbic networks and impairs novelty-induced exploration and familiarization

Exposure to a novel environment triggers the response of several brain areas that regulate emotional behaviors. Here, we studied theta oscillations within the hippocampus (HPC)-amygdala (AMY)-medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) network in exploration of a novel environment and subsequent familiarization through repeated exposures to that same environment; in addition, we assessed how concomitant stress exposure could disrupt this activity and impair both behavioral processes. Local field potentials were simultaneously recorded from dorsal and ventral hippocampus (dHPC and vHPC respectively), basolateral amygdala (BLA) and mPFC in freely behaving rats while they were exposed to a novel environment, then repeatedly re-exposed over the course of 3 weeks to that same environment and, finally, on re-exposure to a novel unfamiliar environment. A longitudinal analysis of theta activity within this circuit revealed a reduction of vHPC and BLA theta power and vHPC-BLA theta coherence through familiarization which was correlated with a return to normal exploratory behavior in control rats. In contrast, a persistent over-activation of the same brain regions was observed in stressed rats that displayed impairments in novel exploration and familiarization processes. Importantly, we show that stress also affected intra-hippocampal synchrony and heightened the coherence between vHPC and BLA. In summary, we demonstrate that modulatory theta activity in the aforementioned circuit, namely in the vHPC and BLA, is correlated with the expression of anxiety in novelty-induced exploration and familiarization in both normal and pathological conditions.

On the discovery of business processes orchestration patterns

COORDINSPECTOR is a Software Tool aiming at extracting the coordination layer of a software system. Such a reverse engineering process provides a clear view of the actually invoked services as well as the logic behind such invocations. The analysis process is based on program slicing techniques and the generation of, System Dependence Graphs and Coordination Dependence Graphs. The tool analyzes Common Intermediate Language (CIL), the native language of the Microsoft .Net Framework, thus making suitable for processing systems developed in any .Net Framework compilable language. COORDINSPECTOR generates graphical representations of the coordination layer together with business process orchestrations specified in WSBPEL 2.0

A creative solution for rapid and inexpensive model-making in product design processes

Rapid prototyping (RP) is an approach for automatically building a physical object through solid freeform fabrication. Nowadays, RP has become a vital aspect of most product development processes, due to the significant competitive advantages it offers compared to traditional manual model making. Even in academic environments, it is important to be able to quickly create accurate physical representations of concept solutions. Some of these can be used for simple visual validation, while others can be employed for ergonomic assessment by potential users or even for physical testing. However, the cost of traditional RP methods prevents their use in most academic environments on a regular basis, and even for very preliminary prototypes in many small companies. That results in delaying the first physical prototypes to later stages, or creating very rough mock-ups which are not as useful as they could be. In this paper we propose an approach for rapid and inexpensive model-making, which was developed in an academic context, and which can be employed for a variety of objects.

PHB-PEO electrospun fiber membranes containing chlorhexidine for drug delivery applications

Fiber meshes of poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly(hydroxybutyrate)/ poly(ethylene oxide) (PHB/PEO) with different concentrations of chlorhexidine (CHX) were prepared by electrospinning, for assessment as a polymer based drug delivery system. The electrospun fibers were characterized at morphological, molecular and mechanical levels. The bactericidal potential of PHB and PHB/PEO electrospun fibers with and without CHX was investigated against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) by disk diffusion susceptibility tests. Electrospun fibers containing CHX exhibited bactericidal activity. PHB/PEO-1%CHX displayed higher CHX release levels and equivalent antibacterial activity when compared to PHB/PEO with 5 and 10 wt% CHX. Bactericidal performance of samples with 1 wt% CHX was assessed by Colony Forming Units (CFU), where a reduction of 100 % and 99.69 % against E. coli and S. aureus were achieved, respectively.

Application of Gage R&R methodology for improving the training and evaluation of automatic optical inspection machine operators

The current level of demand by customers in the electronics industry requires the production of parts with an extremely high level of reliability and quality to ensure complete confidence on the end customer. Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) machines have an important role in the monitoring and detection of errors during the manufacturing process for printed circuit boards. These machines present images of products with probable assembly mistakes to an operator and him decide whether the product has a real defect or if in turn this was an automated false detection. Operator training is an important aspect for obtaining a lower rate of evaluation failure by the operator and consequently a lower rate of actual defects that slip through to the following processes. The Gage R&R methodology for attributes is part of a Six Sigma strategy to examine the repeatability and reproducibility of an evaluation system, thus giving important feedback on the suitability of each operator in classifying defects. This methodology was already applied in several industry sectors and services at different processes, with excellent results in the evaluation of subjective parameters. An application for training operators of AOI machines was developed, in order to be able to check their fitness and improve future evaluation performance. This application will provide a better understanding of the specific training needs for each operator, and also to accompany the evolution of the training program for new components which in turn present additional new difficulties for the operator evaluation. The use of this application will contribute to reduce the number of defects misclassified by the operators that are passed on to the following steps in the productive process. This defect reduction will also contribute to the continuous improvement of the operator evaluation performance, which is seen as a quality management goal.